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Month: September 2010

SEGA has now celebrated 70 years. SEGA was founded in 1940 as Standard Games in Hawaii, USA and originally made coin-operated systems for service men on American military bases until the 1950's when the company moved to Tokyo, Japan. By 1952 Service Games of Japan was formed. In 1954 Dave Rosen, an American businessman moved to Japan and founded Rosen Enterprises Ltd. a company that imported games into Japan and then, in 1967, the United States. Beetween the mid-1960's and 1969-70 SEGA made a game that was similar to Sonic the Hedgehog called the “Boozometer”.

Another game in 1968 that SEGA in Japan was Periscope which was about a real submarine of the same name.In 1969 SEGA was bought out by Gulf+Western Company (parent of Paramount Pictures from 1966-1994). In 1976 SEGA made the World's largest Television known as the Sega-Vision (which was re-used in 2008 as portable TV that SEGA made). In 1980 SEGA side of Gulf+Western Company bought out Gremlin. In 1983 SEGA was defunct by the Videogame Crash but revived after that event. In the same year another American company bought that American-run Japanese videogame firm making Rosen as president of that side and also SEGA made its first game console the SG series and the Mark I and II and a computer the SC-1000. In 1984 SEGA was taken over by the Japanese people such as Yuji Naka (b. 1965) and made Dave Rosen as president of the American side. In 1985 SEGA began to introduce an unofficial mascot known as Alex Kidd which continued until 1991 when Sonic succeeded as mascot. Also in that year SEGA introduced the Master System, a game console. In 1986 SEGA of America Inc. was formed as the American branch of SEGA videogames. In 1988 the SEGA-AM8 department (later Sonic Team) was formed in Tokyo, Japan and also SEGA released the Mega Drive which was known in the USA as the SEGA Genesis. In April 1990 SEGA-AM8 planned to make a new mascot for the company that:

Be a more famous character to cheer lots of people

Become SEGA's official mascot

Choosing the right colour, speed and animal type

To rival with Mario

So in 1991 Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima (who previously made the Phantasy Star series) of SEGA-AM8 began to make a mascot that will be blue (the same colour as SEGA's logo colours) and a hedgehog that will go up to Mach 1 (the speed of sound) and called him Sonic.Also in 1990 SEGA released the Game Gear into Japan.

Yuji Naka

Naoto Oshima

Sonic the Hedgehog

From 1993-1997 SEGA sponsored the Japanese team “Jef United” and in 1993 only sponsored the Williams Formula 1 team.In 1995 SEGA and AOL Time-Warner made a subscribing service called “The SEGA Channel”. Also in 1995, SEGA made the SEGA Saturn.In 1998 SEGA withdrew the SEGA Saturn from American markets because of low sales and the President of SEGA of America Inc. said that “the SEGA Saturn is not our future” and SEGA released the Dreamcast into Japan and a year later into the USA, Europe and Australia. Since the late '90s and the start of the 21st century, SEGA began to export their games into Australia and South Korea. SEGA chose hard to find some Australian branches that would import SEGA games from Japan. Since 2001 Microsoft (USA, founded 1975) plan to take over SEGA's console manufacturing and that company made the XBOX that may succeed the SEGA's Dreamcast. So SEGA started to stop making consoles and began making games for non-SEGA manufacturing consoles. From 1998-2003 SEGA's economy went down and by 2003 went up. Since this century SEGA made games that came from films such as the Golden Crystal (2007) and cartoon shows such as Astro Boy (2004). In 2008 SEGA made the official videogame of the 2008 Olympic Games and in late 2007 SEGA released a game that had Nintendo and SEGA's mascots, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, that was released in the USA in 2007 followed by Japan, Europe and Australia in 2008 with a Winter Olympic games edition in 2009. In 2011 SEGA will make 2 games for the Nintendo 3DS, a Sonic game and Super Monkey Ball.

Silver is a silver hedgehog that weighs 35 kg and a height of 100 cm and 14 years old. Silver can go to about 200 years in the future. The character has been created by Yuji Uekawa. His first apperance was in Sonic the Hedgehog PS3/Xbox 360. JPN 2006/USA/EUR/AUS 2007). He also appears in Sonic Rivals (PSP, USA 2006; EUR/Oceania/Africa/Middle East, 2007), Sonic Rivals 2 (PSP, 2007), Sonic and the Secret Rings (party mode only) (Wii, 2007), Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (JPN, Wii; USA/EUR/AUS Wii/PS2, 2008), the beta version of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii/Nintendo DS; USA, 2007; JPN/EUR/AUS 2008); Sonic and the Black Knight (Wii, 2009) and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii/Nintendo DS, 2009).Friends—————————– ——His friends are Sonic, Shadow, Blaze and Espio (who he made friends in Sonic Rivals)

Characteristics—————————– —————————--Silver is very different to Sonic and Shadow, but he's got the power to control his enemies and move all types of objects.-He doesn't like people to be there in his way.-He can transform into Super-Silver

Theme Songs—————————– ———-“Dreams of an Absolution”(performed by Lee Brotherton), Sonic the Hedgehog. They also use the “His World” song.-A remix of Jun Senue (a Japanese composer from Sonic Team USA)-“Race to Win” from Sonic Rivals 2

Marine is a raccoon in Sonic Rush Adventure (Nintendo DS, 2007) and Sonic Universe (Comic, 2009- ). He was created by Yuji Uekawa. He lives in the centre of Southern Island, where you can see the interior od her house in Sonic Rush Adventure which is like the main menu of the game.Friends/AlliesBlaze the CatSonic the HedgehogMiles “Tails” ProwerShadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Universe)The Coconut CrewEnemiesCaptain WhiskerEggman NegaDoctor EggmanJohnnyMetal Sonic (Sonic Universe)

Fang first appeared in Sonic and Tails 2 (Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouple in Europe and the USA) (Game Gear, 1994). The character was formerly called Nack the Weasel in the West (USA and Europe), but he was still called “Nack” in the comics. In the games, Fang was discontinued after the release of Sonic the Fighters (Sonic Championship in the USA and Europe) (Arcade, 1996), but went back during the release of Sonic Gems Colllection in 2005, his only modern appeareance. He is still in the comic books and mangas (Japanese term for comic).

Sega.com: When Sonic and his friends sit down to eat after a long hard day of chasing Dr. Eggman, what do they like to eat?Yuji Naka: They probably eat McDonald's® hamburgers, I suppose? And I think they will get a complete line-up of Happy Meal® premiums.Sega.com: We get a whole lot of letters on this one: Do you think Sonic and Amy Rose will ever get married?Yuji Naka: There will be hardly be any chance, I bet. Amy will continue to pursue Sonic all the time, but Sonic will not ever get married. I think so, because I cannot picture the image of Sonic that he is married and has his children! Also, I feel it is a more Amy's style to always chase Sonic.Sega.com: Is Sonic excited about being on all of the platforms in Sonic Heroes? What about it thrills him the most?Yuji Naka: Of course he is excited, because more people than ever before will enjoy his game. He seems thrilled to be able to run on the various platforms!Sega.com: What is Sonic's favorite thing to do in his free time?Yuji Naka: …I feel certain that he is running somewhere, because he loves running.Sega.com: Sonic sure is busy — how many hours of sleep does he need per night?Yuji Naka: Hmm, I suppose he sleeps the ordinary eight hours a night or so, because unless he sleeps well, lack of sleep will affect his run…Sega.com: Did Sonic have a hand in changing Dr. Robotnik's name to Dr. Eggman for the United States games? If so, was he trying to make fun of his nemesis?Yuji Naka: To tell the truth, his name has not changed. Robotnik is his real name and Eggman is a common name taken after his shape. Possibly, it may have been Sonic, who uttered this alias for the first time! I feel, though, Sonic uses this name affectionately, rather than trying to make fun of him.Our thanks to Yuji Naka and Sonic for taking the time to answer our questions![Source: SEGA of America Inc. from Sonic Central website]